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Adventures in Authoring

Wednesday Writing Word: Merism

Where a synecdoche is a specific type of metonym, a merism is a specific type of synecdoche in which a phrase refers to something by the name of a few of its components (usually two in contrast). Like other metonyms, their usage most often comprises pre-established terms (such as saying “high and low” or “near and far” to mean “everywhere“), rather than existing in unique cases.

Other examples:

The slog can corrode you, mind and body. [Referring to the ‘whole of a person’ to mean completely]